"At the outset of the deployment in 2006, Britain’s the then Secretary for Defense, John Reid, appeared optimistic that the British Army could accomplish its Helmand mission “without a shot being fired.” Two years later, British soldiers had fired 4 million bullets. Ledwidge records that 542 non-combatants have been killed in Helmand by British and NATO forces, with countless more victims of life-changing injuries.
Yet if Reid nursed absurdly inflated expectations, he has felt no obligation to revisit the issue, nor has he ever been called to account over what proved to be careless talk. On the contrary, “Dr. Reid” went on to become chairman of the Institute of Security and Resilience Studies at London University and continues to be much in evidence as a commentator on matters of national security. "
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